Amid rising civilians casualties caused by combat between the Taliban and NATO and US-led troops, calls for open talks with home grown Taliban militants are increasing.
A poll conducted for the Canadian network CTV and the dailyThe Globe and Mail revealed that two out of three Canadians supported the idea of holding talks with the Taliban to find a way to end the conflict. Canada is a NATO ally in Afghanistan.
Others have also suggested such talks, including Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf, and Kurt Beck, the leader of Germany's Social Democratic Party, part of the ruling coalition.
Beck recently proposed talking with "moderate Taliban," urging Berlin to host an Afghan peace conference where "Taliban moderates" could talk face-to-face with Afghan government officials.
In early May, the Afghan Senate passed a motion calling on the government of Hamid Karzai to call for a ceasefire and initiate talks with the Taliban.
Aminuddin Muzafari, secretary of the upper house of the Afghan Parliament, told the Associated Press (AP) in May that the motion reflected lawmakers' belief that negotiations with militants would be more effective than fighting.
"One of the reasons I want this bill implemented is because of the civilian deaths caused by both the enemy and international forces," he said. "It's difficult to prevent civilian deaths when the Taliban go inside the homes of local people. How can you prevent casualties then? You can't."
While militants killed 178 civilians in attacks this month, Western forces killed 203 civilians, according to an AP count based on figures from Afghan and international officials.
Separate figures from the UN show that through the end of May, the number of civilians killed by international forces was roughly equal to those killed by insurgents.
There are some 37,000 troops from 37 countries under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly urged ISAF forces to exercise caution and work in close collaboration with the Afghan National Army, which might be better able to minimize civilian casualties because of its knowledge of the terrain.
NATO officials admit that the growing number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is costing the alliance support from ordinary Afghans. Frustration and anger about mounting deaths are visible even in the capital Kabul.
"Before the US invasion there was only one kind of Taliban," Mustafa Ahmed, 25, a taxi driver, told ISN Security Watch. "Now there are three kinds. The first - fighting NATO in southern Afghanistan; second - thieves and petty criminals who loot passengers on Afghan highways; third - US forces who maim and kill ordinary civilians at their whim."
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has repeatedly expressed regret over the accidental civilan casualties caused by NATO forces. NATO officials say that the Taliban and al-Qaida are using human shields to increase civilian casualty rates in Afghanistan in a bid to undermine support for foreign troops in the country - as well as support for Karzai's government. Taliban fighters attack US or NATO forces in populated areas, then retreat to civilian homes. Western forces respond with massive firepower or an airstrike.
"They are, of course, trying to [ensure] that we are losing the hearts and minds of the Afghan people," de Hoop Scheffer said in a statement.
New Taliban tactics
The Taliban are also adopting a different military strategy to keep NATO forces on the edge. After the bloody aftertaste of head-on confrontations across the southern provinces over the past year, they are increasingly shifting toward remote-detonated bombs, suicide attacks and other hit-and-run tactics in areas where they have regrouped.
As in Iraq, Afghan insurgents have implemented the use of roadside and suicide bom
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